The page could not be loaded. The CMS.gov Web site currently does not fully support browsers with
"JavaScript" disabled. Please enable "JavaScript" and revisit this page or proceed with browsing CMS.gov with
"JavaScript" disabled.
Instructions for enabling "JavaScript" can be found here.
Please note that if you choose to continue without enabling "JavaScript" certain functionalities on this website may not be available.

View Public Comments for Reconstructive Treatments for Facial Lipodystrophy Syndrome

Use the selection criteria below to select the Comment Period for which you would like to view the comments for the selected document. You can use the alphabetical links above the results table to jump to comments submitted by a commenter whose last name starts with that letter. Select the 'Expand All Comments' link to view all the full comments, and click the 'Collapse All Comments' link to view only the abstract for all comments. Select the 'More' link in the Comment to view the full text of the specific comment in a new window.

The treatment of lipodystrophy by various facial fillers should be approved. There is significant documentation in the community and medically that certain drugs in a HAART HIV cocktail cause lipodystrophy as well as lipoatrophy. The result is
More opens in new window

I think that should be covered,and not considered cometic surgery because of treatment outcomes.They are already fighting to have a life, and this condition also adds to serious depression, and anxiety for people living with this disease.Think
More opens in new window

Adding approval of effective treatment procedures
to Medicare & insurance coverage protocol would
be extreamly benificial for the physical &
emotional well being of people living with HIV.
Treatments available now, are too expensive
More opens in new window

Reconstructive treatment for facial lipodystrophy would have a tremendous beneficial effect on the self image of people with facial wasting, thus encouraging them to seek employment and be less prone to depression. If women can have breast
More opens in new window

It is not enough to treat just part of any illness. Seems to me that those "decision makers" would not have to be prodded to do the right thing and treat all aspects of an illness. The research supports that the Lipodystrophy Syndrome
More opens in new window

Customer - 02/04/2009 05:22 PM
Treatment for facial wasting/butt wasting in
patients with AIDS/advanced HIV disease should be
covered by Medicaide/Medicare. It is crucial and
certainly NOT "cosmetic". [PHI Redacted] More opens in new window

[PHI Redacted]
Allowing medicaid to pay for treatment for this
condition will greatly improve the lives of those
afflicted with this medical condition. I can
unequivocally state that treatment
More opens in new window

For once successful, divorced, middle aged women
with HIV/AIDS it is hard enough to make friends,
let alone meet a person of the opposite sex to
date. The odds of ever getting married again are
highly unlikely. Add to that the fact that
More opens in new window

As a physician, I've observed facial lipodystrophy to be associated with depression and anxiety that has required long term treatment. Additionally, patients have become less compliant and adherant to their HIV antiretroviral agents and are
More opens in new window

[PHI Redacted] I am editor of a national HIV
publication, Postively Aware, and in my line of
work I recieve countless letters and emails from
individuals all over the world who suffer from
the same condition, many of them
More opens in new window

I feel strongly that these treatments should be covered. I have worked with hundreds of HIV positive individuals in support groups over the last three years, many of whom have had to deal with facial lipodystrophy. Although this is a condition
More opens in new window

Reconstructive treatment for Facial Lipodystrophy
Syndrome is not about cosmetics or vanity. Walking
around in life with a sunken skeletal face covered
only by a thin layer of skin hinders not only ones
self esteem, but also ones ability to
More opens in new window

It is vitally important for Medicare to inlude coverage for treatments of HIV-related facial wasting. The long-term effects of this debilitating condition takes it's ugly toll each and every day erroding a facial wasting sufferer's will to
More opens in new window

As a psychiatrist, I have seen many HIV patients whose facial wasting was severe, disfiguring, and a cause of stigma, depression, agoraphobia and other anxiety disorders. To call such cases cosmetic rather than reconstructive is to
More opens in new window

I am a primary care physician that has been active in the care of HIV patients since the mid-80's and have seen many changes in the treatment of HIV disease. Unfortunately, the use of HAART or just the disease process itself casuses Facial
More opens in new window

I believe that Lipoatrophy Treatment should be
covered by Medicare because without these
treatments HIV positive people would feel
embarrassment, and feelings of worthlessness that
they would not feel if they could afford these
treatments
More opens in new window

IT SHOULD BE COVERED BY MEDICARE BECAUSE OF THE DEPRESSION,STRESS,THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE,PEOPLE WHO STOP TAKING THERE MEDS AND PEOPLE WHO DONT WANT TO START MEDS BECAUSE OF THOSE SIDE EFFECTS PLUS MANY PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY FOR THE TREATMENTS
More opens in new window

Yes, it should be covered. An individuals face is the passport to how others perceive them. Depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts can accompany facial wasting. If it happens to me, I would want the chance to correct
More opens in new window

These treatments for facial lipodystrophy are not cosmetic but reconstructive in nature. No different than if a cancer patient needed reconstructive surgery after removal of a cancerous tissue. We should not have to continue to have this
More opens in new window

I'm writing in response to an article in POZ/AIDSmed.com. Living in NYC, people are more used to seeing walking skeletons on the street. After reading the AIDSmeds.com article, I was brought to tears some of the comment from small-town AIDS
More opens in new window